Mobile firefighters awarded for Bebo's car fire response

On September 4th, 2018, Mobile Fire-Rescue Department units were dispatched to the Bebo’s Springhill Market (3614 Old Shell Road) for reports of a vehicle on fire. Upon arrival, crews discovered a Ford Mustang fully-engulfed in flames. The burning vehicle was parked just feet away from a tanker that was off-loading gasoline to the station’s underground storage tanks. The driver of the car had accidentally run over the fuel line which was delivering 2,000 gallons of gasoline, thus igniting the fire.

The driver of the car safely escaped her vehicle, while the driver of the gasoline tanker successfully shut off the valve to one of the tanks delivering gasoline; however, a 2nd tank was still off-loading fuel, and the valve remained open. Without immediate action, the gasoline tanker, which maintained several thousands of gallons of gasoline, would have exploded and caused a major incident with significant damage.

The crew of Engine 14 arrived on scene and quickly began to extinguish the vehicle fire while simultaneously working to cool the tanker. Captain David Calhoun and his crew – Fire Service Driver LeCedric Browe, Firefighter Brandon Parden, and Firefighter James Duff – leapt to action, advancing hose lines, and using dry chemical extinguishers to smother the gasoline on the ground. Deputy Chief Kenneth Keller remarked that what was most noticeable was the crew’s willingness to address this emergency quickly and aggressively, while being conscious of potential risk for a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) at any moment.